ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 11, 1996 TAG: 9603110059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
THE NCAA DIVISION III Final Four teams may not have played at the Salem Civic Center before, but they are familiar faces in the tournament.
Illinois Wesleyan didn't want to go back home. Rowan (N.J.) College is coming back to its second home. Hope (Mich.) College is hoping for a typical outpouring by its home crowd. And Franklin & Marshall (Pa.) College is looking to finally close the deal on a tournament that it has called home for the past 11 years.
Whatever happens with these four finalists for the 1996 NCAA Division III men's basketball championship, it will happen at the event's new home, the Salem Civic Center. The Final Four begins at 6 p.m. Friday, when the Diplomats of Franklin & Marshall meet Hope. Illinois Wesleyan, winner of the South/Midwest sectional this past weekend at Roanoke College's Bast Center, faces Rowan at 8 p.m.
Illinois Wesleyan's fans, 500 strong, straggled out of the Roanoke Valley at various times Sunday morning, but they should return in greater numbers this week. The Titans didn't go away without celebrating, though. The Shenandoah room at the Roanoke Marriott was the scene of some Titanic festivities late Saturday night. The team, minus coach Dennie Bridges, was in the midst of the merrymaking. The players stuck to Pepsis, of course.
``They party hard,'' Bridges said of the Titans' fans. ``When you drive that far, you'd better give it all you've got.''
The bash, organized by the father of Illinois Wesleyan point guard Tony Pacetti, climaxed with a huge dice game between coeds before breaking up around 2 a.m. Sunday. The Titans hope to have a similar celebration after the national championship game, with one little request. ``We're tickled to death to come back to Salem,'' Bridges said. ``I just want them to raise the temperature about 40 degrees.''
If there's any school that knows about cold weather in Salem, it's Rowan. The Profs have played two Stagg Bowls at Salem Stadium (1993 and 1995) in sub-freezing temperatures. They also played in the 1994 softball championship at the Moyer Complex. Rowan has made the men's basketball Final Four three of the past four years, and although it never has been to the civic center for a basketball game, it's had the building in its sights all season.
Coach Dr.John Giannini pasted a photograph of the civic center over the Profs' locker room door. ``When North Carolina won the national championship in the Superdome, they did the same thing,'' he said. ``It's a very effective thing.''
Hope's home crowds, largest in the nation the past two seasons, have been effective enough to spur the Flying Dutchmen to a 26-4 record and their first Division III Final Four appearance. It helps that they have 6-foot-9 senior center Duane Bosma, an All-American in 1995, in the middle.
Although it sits near the shore of Lake Michigan, about 100 miles north of the Indiana border, Hope has a Salem connection. Its athletic director, Ray Smith, was in town the entire week of the 1995 Stagg Bowl as a representative of the NCAA, and the Flying Dutchmen share a conference affiliation with Albion (Mich.), the 1994 Stagg Bowl champion.
Glenn Robinson, Franklin & Marshall's coach, said he's never been to Salem in his 25 years at the Lancaster, Pa., school, but he's been around enough to know the tournament's ins and outs. The Diplomats (29-1) have made it at least as far as the Sweet 16 in 10 of the past 11 years. F&M, the nation's No.1-ranked team entering the tournament, also has been in the top position for at least one week each of the past seven seasons.
For all of their success, however, none of the Final Four teams has won the Division III championship trophy. And none wants to return home next week without it.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB